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In recent decades, the dependency on individual car ownership has been criticized for many reasons. As a contribution to the transformation towards more sustainable societies, car-free forms of mobility are called for. At the same time, cars belong to everyday life and are an integral part of many cultures. Despite known risks, emissions scandals, high fuel prices and maintenance costs as well as claims of ”peak car” even in 2023 car sales are still high and the demand for more cars does not seem to wane.
In this light, the seminar will scrutinize culturally held assumptions, beliefs, and practices of the system of automobility. For some people cars are just a necessity, something that gets them from A to B. However, for many they can be much more than that. Although cars are occasionally ridiculed as old fashioned status symbols, as studies show today they can be as much about aesthetics, emotions, or sensory responses to driving. Cars can be a home away from home, a bastion of private space, a safe place (”cocoon”), an escape from predictability, a means to meditate, a place to enjoy music, an expression of style, or simply a thing that can be fun on its own. However, transport planning and current political strategies to change and influence car-driving patterns have often overlooked these sociological and cultural dimensions of the car system.
This seminar aims to provide a sociological sense of cars as a significant form of material culture. In particular we will take a critical look at how cars are embedded into other forms of mobility (public transport, bicycling), how they are connected to contemporary issues (pandemics, security, terrorism) as well as their familial and sociable practices including the pleasure of driving, the thrill of feeling the car, or the overall joy of being on the road. |
